Protecting telecommunications equipment in telephone central offices or other locations against voltage surges and sneak currents is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,150 discloses a solid state protector for insertion in a telephone line having tip and ring conductors. The protector comprises a current unit, a voltage unit and a pair of springs assembled within a housing structure. The voltage unit includes solid state devices that respond instantaneously to spurious voltage surges on the telephone line in the tip conductor, the ring conductor, or both tip and ring conductors. When a voltage surge exceeds a predetermined threshold, the voltage device operates to ground the telephone line thereby insuring that the spurious voltage bypasses the telephone equipment in the central office.
Conventional voltage units including that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,150 often include one or more metal clips for retaining the various diodes and terminals of the voltage unit in a desired assembled state. However, the clips used in these devices are quite narrow relative to the length of the voltage unit housing to which they are attached. Thus, the clips often pivot out of proper alignment and become dislodged during placement onto the housing. As a result, the clip(s) may become dislodged and one or more of the electrical components of the voltage unit may become loose, lost or damaged both during or after assembly. Additionally, in certain existing voltage unit assemblies, the clip may fail to retain the electrical components within the housing if one or more of the diodes becomes damaged during operation and its thickness is reduced. Either of these eventualities may hinder the assembly process or the reliability of the voltage unit.